


The Art of Negotiation

by hiddencait



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Jossed, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, so so jossed, trio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 17:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1436392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma and Jasper have a proprosition for Phil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Negotiation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thinlizzy2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinlizzy2/gifts).



> This trio isn't one I would have ever thought up on my own, but man did it totally make me smile to see it on an assignment! I couldn't resist writing it. Here's hoping it was what my giftee was looking for!
> 
> And as always, thanks to *name redacted* for coming through with the awesome beta!
> 
> Also, as I have only seen up to TAHITI on AoS and just saw Winter Soldier, I can say I know this has been/will be thoroughly Jossed. Hope you still like it anyway thinlizzy2!

Coulson entered the restaurant where Jasper had suggested they meet for dinner and paused at the sight of Simmons seated at his old friend’s side. That was unexpected. Well, not that Simmons was snuggled up to Jasper – that wasn’t remotely surprising, and had, in fact, been achieved due to the direct interference of Coulson himself – but more that she was there at all. Jasper had given the impression that this was just him and his buddy catching up on one of their rare layovers back in New York while the Bus had some regular maintenance completed. Simmons’s presence added a decidedly different spin on the invitation, one Coulson wasn’t sure he was ready for, even if he suspected what the spin might turn out to be.

 

He didn’t have long to wait to find out. As soon as the three of them had their drinks and had ordered their meals, Jasper cleared his throat and leaned forward, pausing only for a quick glance to Simmons who nodded back at him encouragingly.

 

“Jemma and I have a proposal for you, Phil,” Jasper said, licking his lips a little nervously, before the competence and confidence Phil knew Jasper possessed asserted itself again. “As you know-”

 

“And orchestrated brilliantly,” Jemma interjected, and Jasper rolled his eyes at her fondly before continuing.

 

“As you know, Jemma and I have been together for some time now, and things are going well between us.”

 

Phil eyed the pair of them. He’d assumed things were going well, but it was nice to get the independent confirmation. Granted, he’d been betting on their relationship with quite of bit of insider information, so to speak. SHIELD personnel files were complete up to the point of making personal privacy only a figment of lesser agents’ imagination. This actually was a necessary evil – an agent’s romantic preferences would need to be common knowledge at any time for undercover operations. While yes, older and more experienced agents could and often did manage seduction assignments on targets of either sex regardless of whether they were straight, gay, or even asexual, even Level 6 and 7 agents had a much easier time accomplishing those sorts of missions if there was the vaguest chance of managing something like physical attraction with the target in question.

 

As Simmons, or _Jemma_ as he supposed he should be calling her at a casual lunch, was one of his subordinates, Phil had complete access to her personnel file, and thus full disclosure on her romantic preferences. Even before her encounter with Jasper in the Hub, Phil had known Jemma tended to fancy older, mature men of higher than average intellect along with at least a moderate degree of competency in their chosen field. To say Jasper fit the parameters perfectly was an understatement, not that most people would think of him that way on first glance. Like Phil, Jasper had long ago perfected the art of being underestimated, although while Phil did so through the persona of a boring paper pusher, Jasper liked to convince people he was more of the amiable bumbling type. Still, Jasper was a Level 7 agent – for those in the know that alone screamed competence.

 

Competence Jemma would have picked up on pretty easily. Phil had long been debating on leading his old friend in the direction of the lovely young scientist, but the Night-Night Gun introduction had clinched it. Not only had Jasper thoroughly flustered Jemma (something Phil guessed everyone else had attributed to the situation, but he knew better), Jemma had managed to intrigue Jasper enough that she’d actually gotten the drop on him, unplanned though it might have been. It had taken next to no effort on Phil’s part after that to get a dialogue going between the two. It was one of his more successful matchmaking missions, if he did say so himself.

 

But Jasper knew that Phil knew that, so why would he need to re-iterate it?

 

Phil drew his attention back to the couple at the table, both of whom were clearly giving him time to ponder the start to the conversation before going on. This time it was Jemma who spoke.

 

“That said, while certainly happy with each other, we’ve realized we could be… Perhaps, even happier with a particular _addition_ to the relationship, if you take my meaning.” Jemma smiled brightly, and part of him beamed with pride that she was giving away no trace of shyness in her demeanor. Earlier, Phil had seen her hands clenching on her wine glass as she spoke, giving away the nerves, but her current delivery was an excellent bit of trade craft. They’d make a field agent out of her at this rate.

 

Then his pride in the young scientist subsided just enough to let her words sink in, along with the implications of those words. Phil blinked. Was she actually… She and Jasper…

 

“Wait, what?” he asked and blinked again.

 

Jasper snorted impatiently. “Come on, Phil. You aren’t that obtuse.”

 

No, no he wasn’t, but _still._ Phil had been certain of Jemma and Jasper’s compatibility, but he hadn’t bothered to figure in his own. OK so sure, he fit Jemma’s preferences just as well as Jasper did. And all right, yes, he knew that Jasper was bisexual and at least somewhat attracted to Phil - or so he’d discovered after a rather awkward if enjoyable aphrodisiac-in-the-water-supply ordeal they’d both gone through back in their Level 4 days. But putting those separate bits of data into a coherent whole to equal the current conversation was something he hadn’t even thought to calculate.

 

“Look, Phil... I can call you Phil right now, can’t I?” Jemma asked and then shook her head as if annoyed with herself for asking. “Never mind, as I was saying, you clearly match both of our former and current desires, and really, it just makes sense to combine said desires if both of us are amenable.”

 

“And we are,” Jasper added.

 

“So, why not give us a try? You can’t be opposed to it, or you’d already have left the table or have offered up some oh-so-polite change of the subject. You know you would have,” Jemma said, just a hint of smugness in her voice, as Phil realized that she was right: he normally would have. So then, was he considering their proposal?

 

Well, damn. Apparently he was.

 

He sighed and reached for his wine glass, needing a solid swig or two to gather his thoughts and consider the new information. Luckily for him, their food arrived then, and Phil used the clatter of plates and flatware cover the silence in the wake of Jemma’s revealing statement. He needed a minute to steady his mind. Had he been nursing an attraction to his subordinate for this long? Hell, had he pushed her at Jasper as some sort of vicarious thrill? No, he decided; there hadn’t been anything that selfish underneath his more obvious motivations. Jasper was a friend, a good one, and Jemma was one of the brightest young minds he’d known in a very long time, as well as being absolutely stunning. The pair of them deserved to be happy, and he’d done his best to make that happen. He’d just apparently missed what else might make them happy. Short-sighted of him, considering the intel he’d had on hand.

 

So, he thought while taking a few bites of chicken parmesan, it was probably time to gather more intel. He glanced up from his forced focus on his plate to study the pair across the table from him, both of whom were attending to their meals with the same kind of deliberateness that he had been. Kind of them to try to give him space, Phil thought again. It wouldn’t be fair if he kept them in suspense too long.

 

“So, assuming I am amenable to this arrangement, there still will be other obstacles to consider,” he began, but Jemma didn’t allow him to get any further, jumping in with her usual alacrity.

 

“That is a valid point of course, and one we’ve considered. To begin, there are the normal concerns of dating a coworker, or coworkers, in this case. But really Phil, we belong to S.H.I.E.L.D. and statistically, agent-and-agent relationships in a covert organization of that kind tend to be much more successful than agent-and-civilian assignations. There’s simply too much secrecy required for a civilian to build any sort of trust for the agent in question. Eventually that lack of trust causes the relationship to fall apart. It’s not surprising. Sad, for the agent involved, but not surprising. But we wouldn’t have that problem, now would we?”

 

She was looking a little smug again, and Phil discovered he wanted, rather desperately actually, to kiss the look off her face. Maybe later. There were still other issues to be addressed.

 

“Not a bad answer, I’ll give you that. But there’s also the issue that I’m your supervising officer. That’s skating into sexual harassment territory.”

 

Jasper snorted again, and rolled his eyes. “Sure, if that was against regs. But again, this is S.H.I.E.L.D. It would only be an issue if you were seen as taking advantage of your subordinate. Really, if anything Jemma’s trying to take advantage of _you_. And I’m helping her.”

 

He was looking just as smug as his girlfriend now, and Phil felt his lips twitch. So far it was two strikes against him on his list of objections. He found himself hoping that they shot down his third and final concern.

 

“Fair enough – she’s got the upper hand in the courtship. But we still work as part of the same team. That’s pretty close quarters. If the relationship goes sour…” he trailed off, picturing the various agent-and-agent implosions he’d seen over the years.

 

Jemma nodded slowly, obviously reluctant to agree with him on the subject, but willing to admit that it was a problem.

 

“It could go poorly. I know. But, I believe that just means we have all the more reason to make this work. Lord knows, polyamorous relationships are a balancing act to begin with, though. And all of us are mature adults – I think we can handle ourselves in an argument as mature adults.” She took another bite of her pasta and a sip of wine and then tilted her head with a laugh. “Granted, Jasper is being rather generous with said balancing act – considering you and I are, in fact, on the same team, I’d get far more time to play with you by default.”

 

“As long as I receive detailed sit-reps and progress reports, I’m perfectly happy with the arrangement,” Jasper said softly. “What can I say? I’m a bit of voyeur. The idea of some steamy second hand accounts is actually a turn on.”

 

That Phil remembered, but again, the knowledge hadn’t had the same kind of impact before now. It was good to know, definitely. Jemma side eyed her lover and then winked at Phil, causing him to almost choke on his wine. She took another sip from her own glass, and then leaned forward to pin him with a pointed look.

 

“Now, I must say, while it might be relevant to the conversation, it is a little hypocritical of you to bring up that particular concern though, you know. You’ve turned a blind eye to one such relationship on our team – seems silly that you’d draw the line at entering into one yourself.”

 

Phil blinked, startled at the implication that Jemma had known about Ward and May. Jasper just looked confused, but Phil figured the other man would connect the dots without any help. Still, how long had Jemma known? He furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to ask but she just rolled her eyes and barreled forward again.

 

“It’s painfully obvious, honestly! You don’t have to be a genius bio-chemist to notice how his eyes dilate when she’s being particularly… _herself._ And she’s not nearly as subtle as she thinks she is. She waits for him on the days he’s so uncharacteristically late just to snipe at him about it. It’s so obviously staged, I really don’t know how the others haven’t picked up on it yet.”

 

Phil laughed, a little tiredly, amused that he’d been out-maneuvered by his tech on that matter as well as the current one. _He_ hadn’t guessed May was involved with Ward until she’d told him, and he was the supposedly older and wiser agent. He shook his head and chuckled again. She was going to be the death of him, and that was even before Jasper was added into the equation.

 

He considered waving his napkin as a white flag, but decided that would be over dramatic. Instead, Phil settled for reaching out to lay his hand over Jemma’s on her glass and slide his leg forward to press against Jasper’s.

 

“So, how to we begin?”

 


End file.
